Uncle Sam created Bitcoin in the immediate aftermath of the recession as a way to inflate an imaginary bubble rather than an actual asset class. The propagation of crypto [sic] has been pushed by opportunists led on by spies/actors.

The government-Bitcoin conspiracy is so prevalent that prominent figures in the space have publicly shared their thoughts on the idea.

In 2011, Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin posted on industry forum BitcoinTalk to say he wouldn’t be surprised if the National Security Agency (NSA) had been involved in the cryptocurrency’s creation.

Buterin clarified his stance following an article last year. In a tweet sent to his hundreds of thousands of followers, the young entrepreneur curiously said “my opinions have obviously changed a lot since then.”

He did so in a self-written book, explaining the world would eventually learn of the US government’s creation of Bitcoin, and that the CIA was readying to dump its holdings en masse to drive down the cryptocurrency‘s value and ultimately destroy it.

The Chinese angle

Governments feature heavily in Bitcoin conspiracy theories.

One Redditor has even claimed Bitcoin is a byproduct of China.

The comment (again, posted some five years ago) says: “Bitcoin was created by a bunch of engineers in the Chinese communist party.”

“They used a Japanese name to avoid suspicion and since China produces computer chips for cheap they can be a world leader in mining and the inventors could be ultra wealthy all while reducing Chinese dependence on the US dollar,” it concludes.

Sometimes, the spooky China doomsday talk bleeds over into research. Indeed, last year, the world was startled to learn that analysts had determined China had the power, means, and possible intent to destroy Bitcoin entirely.

Bitcoin is the devil

This conspiracy theory – my personal favorite – states the cryptocurrency is linked to a religious belief based on the Christian book of Revelations, where Bitcoin is considered to be the “Mark of the Beast.”

The Mark of the Beast originates from a story in the Bible’s New Testament and says earthly beings will need to get a mark on their bodies in order to buy basic necessities.

This mark is compulsory for everyone, “the great, the small, the poor and the rich.”

In my opinion, this theory is more humorous than credible.

Bitcoin is actually AI

Another seemingly popular theory is that Bitcoin is actually the spawn of rogue artificial intelligence (or aliens!) using the cryptocurrency‘s network to take over the world.

This bizarre theory was raised by a video uploaded to the UFO Today YouTube channel in August last year.

The video alleges that Bitcoin uses the allure of money to trick people into expanding its network and processing power.

UFO Today said: “Would it be possible that the reason for the Bitcoin code to be so perfect, is the fact that the code wasn’t created by a single extremely skilled developer or even a team of skilled developers?

Others on Reddit agree. A user going by the name of ‘givesadvice4bitcoin,’ said: The Devil needed a way to make more money. He’d been told his whole life that ‘money is the root of all evil.’ Naturally, he wanted to be even eviler.”

“He came up with an ingenious plan to start his own currency and make a ridiculous amount of profit. Knowing that the world would never accept his plan if they learned it came from the depths of hell, the Devil disguised himself as a human and called himself Satoshi Nakamoto.”

“Satoshi Nakamoto is an anagram for:A moist satan hook.”

It’s not surprising that the lack of concrete information about Bitcoin‘s existence has caused many to question its origins, and while I, for one, can appreciate the imaginative explanations posed by some, I can’t help but wonder whether the wild conspiracy theories impact Bitcoin‘s chances at mainstream adoption.

One thing’s for certain though, I’m sure Bitcoin isn’t the devil.

Want to find out more about cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology? Check out ourHard Forktrack atTNW 2019!

The Winklevoss brothers aka Bitcoin billionaire brothers, Cameron and Tyler, spoke about the reason why regulation is important for the space, taking …

The Winklevoss brothers aka Bitcoin billionaire brothers, Cameron and Tyler, spoke about the reason why regulation is important for the space, taking into account the infamous Mt. Gox hack and the recent QuadrigaCX incident over lost keys. These topics were discussed during a panel discussion at the SXSW Conference.

Tyler Winklevoss, the co-founder of Gemini, a leading cryptocurrency exchange platform, remarked that there have been problems relating to Bitcoin, such as Mt. Gox, because of the lack of internal control and regulatory oversight. He also stated that they wanted to introduce rules for companies that are engaged in dealing with people’s cryptocurrency.

This was followed by the Bitcoin billionaire stating that the financial market built trust with the help of regulatory oversight as there was a body ensuring that enterprises play the role that they promised. Furthermore, he claimed that Gemini was examined by the New York Department of Financial Services at least once a year, with the latest examination dating back to six weeks. He asserted that this process was similar to that of an audit, which ensures that there are “both layers of checks and balances”. He said:

“[…] and that’s what regulation brings and that’s worked really well in financial markets. And, the healthiest markets in the world today outside of crypto are the ones that are the most thoughtfully regulated like the U.S equities market.”

This was further discussed by Cameron Winklevoss, who stated that the US equities market was “probably the most regulated market” in the world. He added that there is not a market that is thriving without rules and that a successful market without regulatory oversight “just does not exist”.

Furthermore, Cameron spoke about his perspective on the Mt. Gox and QuadrigaCX incident. He stated:

“We ended up buying a lot of Bitcoin on Mt. Gox. So, we kind of grew up in the wild west of crypto, experienced it first hand, and we also have a store of crypto and we basically took our private keys cut them into pieces and store them in secure locations all over the country […] but we’re like most people aren’t gonna do that if they get into cryto.”

He went on to say that buying Bitcoin from Mt. Gox was a “scary” experience as they had to then figure out where and how to store it. He said:

“It’s like once you have the gold bars, you have to then secure it, and if you store it in your house that’s kind of scary because you got to buy a safe and people trying to rob your house.It was a scary time and it kind of informed us like in order for this thing to grow, we’ve got to basically build trust. Gemini’s product is really trust, like trust is our product.”

Coinbase, the Cryptocurrency exchange, was heavily criticized by the crypto community when the exchange acquired Neutrino – a company with …

Coinbase, the Cryptocurrency exchange, was heavily criticized by the crypto community when the exchange acquired Neutrino – a company with close ties to the notorious Hacking Team. Neutrino is tied to a controversial software company called Hacking Team which allegedly sold spyware and other surveillance tools to governments, law enforcement agencies, and dictator regimes.

Cryptocurrency was built on the idea of decentralization which involves taking power away from centralized government, and providing privacy to citizens. The Neutrino Hacking Team’s work goes against these values which crypto community holds dear. And that is why the acquisition calls into question Coinbase’s integrity and commitment towards these beliefs.

The crypto community had started a #DeleteCoinbase campaign asking people to boycott the company. Bitcoin CEO Roger Ver, however, urged his followers online not to delete coinbase.

Roger Ver, often referred to as the Bitcoin Jesus, defended Coinbase claiming that not many companies have done as much as Coinbase, for the crypto community. Tweeting, his support, he said: “Coinbase has done more to drive cryptocurrency adoption than just about any other company. We should be grateful despite a few poor decisions along the way.”

Though opinion of Ver holds weight, he has also defended now defunct crypto defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox, which was among the first exchanges to bring Bitcoin to the masses. Ver had made a video claiming that the exchange was solvent. Mt. Gox eventually collapsed just months after the video was made. The whole affair had cost dearly for many investors who believed him.

Few experts say that Ver’s defense of Coinbase could be an omen. Coinbase could suffer from the same fate as Mt. Gox.

Coinbase claimed that in making the decision to purchase Neutrino, the team had focused on the company’s technological clout, and failed to investigate the company’s team and their past indiscretions properly. In a blog post, the CEO and co-founder of Coinbase Brian Armstrong said that they have let go of the members previously associated with the Hacking Team.

Following the apology, few important people within the cryptocurrency community, are now telling users and investors to forgive the exchange, since they have owned up their mistake and quickly made amendments.

“Startups are not about never making mistakes but learning and correcting faster than everyone else,” said one of the prominent figures in the industry.

The FCA was also in the news earlier when it gave a green signal to Bitcoin [BTC], Ethereum [ETH] and XRP liquidity provider B2C2. The founder and …

The popularity of Bitcoin [BTC] and other cryptocurrencies has increased since its inception and was fuelled by several updates and developments, paving the way for more investors to enter the space. One of the latest surveys conducted by the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority dealt with investor sentiments and awareness related to cryptocurrencies within the country.

The survey stated that the total number of consumers who reported that they bought cryptocurrencies amounted to 51; out of which the financial body estimated that just three percent had ever bought cryptocurrency. Christopher Woolard, the FCA’s Executive Director of Strategy and Competition, said:

“The results suggest that although crypto assets may not be well understood by many consumers, the vast majority don’t buy or use them currently. Whilst the research suggests some harm to individual crypto asset users, it does not suggest a large impact on wider society.”

The survey also studied the buying behavior of users in Britain, which provided a buying pattern as well as a cryptocurrency split-up. Results showed that a majority of the users spent less than $250 on the purchase of digital assets, where 50 percent of the users spent their money on Bitcoin, 34 percent chose ETH and the remaining users bought BCH, LTC, and XRP.

Another pointer from the research was that unlike many investors in the US, the British did not risk their life savings on digital assets, but rather, invested using their disposable income. The FCA also tried to categorize owners based on ‘risky behavior’ by analyzing quotes from family, friends and other acquaintances.

The FCA was also in the news earlier when it gave a green signal to Bitcoin [BTC], Ethereum [ETH] and XRP liquidity provider B2C2. The founder and CEO of B2C2 stated:

“We are excited to have received authorization from the FCA to introduce a cryptocurrency CFD product. Eligible counterparties and professional clients can now gain derivative exposure to the cryptocurrency markets, benefiting from the competitive pricing and liquidity they’re accustomed to receiving from B2C2 while avoiding the risks associated with crypto custody.”

While this may look like Pham was referring to the Satoshi Nakamoto himself, Pham was actually referring to Craig Wright of Bitcoin Satoshi Vision.

Former tech banker and self-proclaimed Bitcoin maximalist Kevin Pham has taken to Twitter to express his thoughts on the current state of the Bitcoin network. Pham’s tweet implied that the Bitcoin network is losing momentum, more precisely, Pham compared the current state of the network to that of America’s top tech company Apple.

“What happened to Bitcoin after Satoshi left is the same thing that happened to Apple after Steve Jobs left.”

While this may look like Pham was referring to the Satoshi Nakamoto himself, Pham was actually referring to Craig Wright of Bitcoin Satoshi Vision. Wright had even replied to Pham’s tweet saying “I’m back”. Presently, the general public is still uncertain of the identity behind the creator of Bitcoin and would argue against Wright being Bitcoin’s actual founder, however, there remains an accuracy in the instability of the Bitcoin network all through last year, to this year.

Many believe that Bitcoin is fast bottoming as reflected in BTC’s trading price and volume. After Bitcoin fell from $6,000 to $3,000 last year, the cryptocurrency community is still caught in the dilemma of whether the big bull can still make a come back or if BTC is indeed headed for rock bottom. Furthermore, the fact that the Bitcoin network is still facing an identity crisis makes it harder for Bitcoiners to hold on to anything positive.

Meanwhile, Pham seems to have fully bought into the path of BSV as he has continued to express his full support towards Wright’s mission of “continuing with the intended vision of Bitcoin” using the BSV. In fact, Pham who is a highly pronounced opposer of the Ethereum network also tweeted ;

“Bitcoin SV can do everything Ethereum can do but better, faster and cheaper. Bitcoin is Turing complete.”